THE VICTORIOUS TIME LORD AND THE BATTLE OF 9 11

Chapter Fourteen

"Now…what shall we do with you?" Lorlana said to her prisoners. "I have all of Torchwood to use for your destruction and speaking of destruction…"

Eleven watched, horrified, while she walked over to the sphere and gazed up at it.

"Shall we open this? After all, that's one of the things that leads to Rose's entrapment, eh?" she said to them.

"No, leave it alone," Eleven said.

"What is it?" Ten asked him.

"Void ship, it has Daleks inside, the Cult of Skaro," Eleven said.

Nine and Ten shared a look.

"Thought that was a myth," Nine said.

"Apparently not," Ten said. "Lorlana, don't! Don't open it!"

"Why not? The more, the merrier," Lorlana said. "Shouldn't we be bringing the "ghosts" over as well? Oh, and before you ask your older self, they're Cybermen."

Ten groaned while Lorlana pointed to the Doctor's temple.

"I have all his memories and since he's farther down the timeline than you are, I'm able to give you all sorts of spoilers. It's also handy since I'm trying to bring forth chaos and what better chaos could there be than Daleks and Cybermen invading and destroying this meaningless mud ball. So, why not get the party started?"

The Doctors watched in horror as Lorlana lifted the possessed Doctor's hand to open the void ship. They waited for it to open but Lorlana just stood there, arm in the air with a frustrated look on her face. It took a moment for Eleven to realize that the possessed Doctor was trying to keep her from opening it. He ran to the side of the prison, yelling at his predecessor to fight back. He was joined by the others who also yelled for Ten to fight back. Lorlana let out a frustrated yell and they watched as the possessed Doctor's head jerked back and his mouth fell open. The possessed Doctor's eyes were opened wide in shock while a stream of pure energy left the mouth and formed into Lorlana. Once she was out, Lorlana decked Older Ten and he dropped to the floor.

"No one defies me, especially not a weakling Time Lord like you," she growled at him.

She threw down another force field bomb and it surrounded Older Ten as he tried to recover from her exit from his body. She gave Older Ten a disdainful look before she raised her own hand and shot a beam of energy at the void ship. Everyone watched in horror as it opened and the Cult of Skaro floated out followed by the Genesis Ark.

"WE HAVE BEEN RELEASED!" Dalek Sec said when they hit the floor. "WE SHALL CONQUER THE EARTH AND EXTERMINATE THE HUMANS!"

"Knock yourself out," Lorlana said. "I have to go and start the next ghost shift now and bring over the Cybermen. Have fun."

Dalek Caan tried to fire on her but Lorlana stopped the energy beam with her hand. She fired a beam of her own and Dalek Caan let out a shocked yell when he was knocked against the wall.

"Don't fire on me, lesser being," she said. "You may think you are the greatest beings in the universe but you are far from it and if you don't want to become atoms, you'll leave me alone. As for them…you can fire on them but for the moment, the force field will hold back your beams. Still, you can try. Ta ta."

The Daleks watched while Lorana calmly walked out of the room. Then they turned their attention on the prisoners.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELVES," Dalek Jast said to them.

The Older Doctor snorted.

"I'm the Doctor, hello," he said to them.

"IT IS THE DOCTOR! EXTERMINATE!"

The Older Doctor let out another snort when Jast fired his beam and it bounced harmlessly off the Older Doctor's prison. Nine rolled his eyes.

"She just told you that you wouldn't be able to kill us, don't you idiots listen or are you too busy screaming exterminate to hear?" Nine said.

"WE MUST FIND SOMEONE TO OPEN THE GENESIS ARK!" Jast said to Caan.

"THE DOCTOR CAN OPEN IT! YOU WILL SURRENDER AND OPEN THE ARK!" Caan said, coming over to the Older Doctor's prison.

The Older Doctor sighed and slapped his hand against the side of his prison to show them it was solid.

"I'm trapped," the Older Doctor said to them. "Otherwise, I'd be getting out of here and getting far away from you and everyone else. So leave me alone."

The Daleks stared at the prisoners, not sure what to do next now that they knew they couldn't get to them. They circled around the force fields for a moment, testing both prisons and when they got back to the Genesis Ark, they looked at one another.

"WE MUST FIND A WAY TO BREAK THROUGH, THE DOCTOR MUST OPEN THE ARK," Dalek Sec said to the other members of the Cult of Skaro. "WE MUST FIND THE WOMAN. SHE WILL OPEN THE PRISON FOR US. I WILL REMAIN WITH THE GENESIS ARK, FIND THE WOMAN AND EXTERMINATE ALL OTHER LIFEFORMS."

"I OBEY!" the other three said before they headed for the door.

Rose watched the Daleks leave the room before she looked at the Older Doctor. He had scooted up against the wall of the prison and had brought his knees up towards his chest while he stared down at the floor. Her heart ached when she saw the world weary look on his face as if the weight of the universe was on his shoulders. Her own Doctor had his moments but she'd never seen the look of defeat and despair on his face and it scared her. She scooted to the wall closest to where he was sitting.

"It's because of what happens here?" Rose said to him. "Is that why you look so weary and sad?"

The Older Doctor lifted his eyes and met hers and Rose swallowed when she saw how dull and listless they looked.

"What happened here was only just the beginning," he said before he looked at the floor again.

Rose's heart ached at that and she could only imagine what hell he'd had to have gone through in order to get the hopeless look on his face. She felt eyes on her and looked over at Eleven who was watching her quietly. She noticed he didn't have the same look or the same dull eyes as the Older Doctor and she scooted towards him.

"I can't tell you what he's been through, Rose, if that's what you're thinking," Eleven said. "You know too much already."

"I know but…you're not like him, you're not all depressed."

Eleven shrugged and said nothing. Rose looked over her shoulder at Nine and Ten who were watching her quietly from the other side of the prison. She turned her attention back to Eleven who was also watching her silently.

"Do you remember me?" Rose said to him.

Eleven was taken aback at that.

"Of course I remember you," he said. "I thought you'd know enough by now to know that it's still me when I regenerate. I remember all my friends and companions."

"But…did you move on with your life and forget me?" Rose said. "Is that why you're not depressed anymore, because you let go and let go of my memory?'

"Rose, I…"

Eleven was interrupted when they heard screams coming from outside the room. They heard the three Daleks screaming exterminate while they shot whoever they could find. Ten shook his head.

"We have to find a way out of here, all of us," he said.

"How?" Rory said.

Ten thought for a moment before a grin spread across his face. He looked at Sec. Sec's attention was on the door and the screams and he scooted across to Rose.

"You have your mobile?" he said softly to her.

"Yeah?"

"Call your mum. She's free, just unconscious. I know it sounds crazy but she might be our only hope of escape."

"What if she gets shot?" Rose said to him.

"She's gonna get shot if she stays where she is, might as well risk it. Ring her for me."

Rose nodded. She turned her back on Eleven, figuring it was best if she didn't ask too many questions or find out too much about the future. But while she dialed her mother's number, she felt his hand on her back and she paused a moment when he gently rubbed.

"I never let go," he said quietly. "And never forgot."

Tears sprang to Rose's eyes and she swallowed hard while Eleven continued to rub her back. Then she looked up when Nine and Jack scooted up to her and she touched both their faces while the phone rang.

"YOU WILL CEASE USING THE COMMUNICATION DEVICE !" Dalek Sec said when he spotted the mobile.

"Try and stop her!" Ten said as Dalek Sec came over to the prison.

He smirked, sensing the Dalek's frustration at not being able to stop Rose and wishing he could see his little squid face. His eyes drifted to his counterpart in the next cell who was still staring quietly at the floor. He scooted back and stared intently at him as his mind reached out and connected to his counterpart's mind.

Hear me and look at me, he thought to him.

There was a moment's hesitation and the Older Doctor looked up and looked at him.

I don't know what you've been through but Rose is right, you look like you've been through hell, Ten thought to him. I can understand the loss of Rose and how deeply that affected you but this is not the time to dwell on all that and wallow in self pity. We need to get out of here and in order to do that, we need everyone here working together and that includes you. Rose is with us, at least for the moment, so take comfort and strength from that and fight Lorlana before she turns this universe into a chaotic playground. Yeah?

The Older Doctor nodded.

Sorry, he thought to Ten. Just…lot on my mind lately.

I understand but that can wait. For now, we need you here in the moment, not a million miles off in Grief Land somewhere.

The Older Doctor nodded and Ten gave him a reassuring smile as he cut off telepathic communication with him. Rose sighed and ended the call.

"Can't reach her," Rose said.

"Keep trying," Nine said. "He's right; she's our best hope right now."

Rose nodded. She tried again while everyone watched and waited and listened to the screams echoing through the building.

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